Finding Your Unique Voice as a Communicator
I grew up in a great church in Florida and was blessed to hear incredible messages as a teenager from Dr. Jerry Vines. Maybe you don’t know Dr. Vines, but he was my ministry hero. When I was an 18-year-old college freshman at Florida State University, I got my first job working at a church.…
Read MoreHow to Preach Like Andy Stanley
A few years ago, I calculated that I had preached about 2,000 times in my life. I’ve also listened to hundreds of sermons from dozens of different preachers. In my opinion, Andy is one of the top three speakers on the planet. Here are a few reasons. He understands the people. I get the sense…
Read MoreThe Link Between Communication and Leadership
Three days after September 11, President George W. Bush stood on a pile of rubble and addressed a group of emergency and construction workers. The President had already shared prepared remarks with the American people, but on this day, his comments here were unscripted. Surrounded by New York Citiy’s finest, he took a bullhorn and…
Read MoreFive Assumptions You Make that Render Your Sermon Ineffective
An assumption is taking something for granted. It’s an assumed truth that is not questioned. We do it in our relationships, our jobs and our lives all the time. And preachers make assumptions about their audience every sunday. Unfortunately, those assumptions can render a sermon ineffective. Here are five common assumptions pastors make. 1. Your…
Read More9 Things I Learned Donating Online to Barack Obama and Mitt Romney
Not long ago, I made online donations to both Presidential candidates. My purpose was not to support a political agenda, but to evaluate the donation and follow up process and see what we could learn. The experiment was fascinating. Here are nine things I learned or realized during the process. 1. It never occurred to…
Read MoreA Lesson on Communicating from Hurricane Sandy
Carey Nieuwhof, a pastor in Canada, fantastic communicator and leader and Preaching Rocket member, posted some thoughts on his blog about communicating. We can’t say it better than Carey, so with his permission, here is the complete post. I don’t like the line of thinking attached to this post. For sure it falls in…
Read MoreWhat Do You Dream Of?
Do you want to retire early? Quit your job and become a stay at home mom? Start your own business? Travel? You have huge hopes and dreams for your life, and so do I! Unfortunately, most of them will cost so much that they may seem unachievable. If you’re doing everything possible to win with…
Read MoreGiving Rocket Lab Recap
Last week, about twenty Giving Rocket members gathered at City Church Eastside in Atlanta to talk about reaching new givers in 2013. Pastors from all across the country gathered for this one day workshop led by our friend David Walters, the Senior Pastor of The Vine. It was a great day focused on kingdom impact. We have…
Read MoreHow to Make December the Biggest Giving Month of the Year
***NEW*** Video 5: Will The Year End Giving System Work in Any Church? (3 minutes) [vimeo 51292801 w=500 h=281] Hey Casey, I just had to let you know that yesterday we did our year-end offering that we called our “Change the World” offering. We promoted the heck out of it following your plan for year-end…
Read MoreThe Eyes of Preaching
When I was in college, I took a speech class where I learned that eye contact was one of the most powerful forms of non-verbal communication. Physiologists and linguists tell us that we can speak and listen with our eyes. The poet Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “An eye can threaten like a loaded and leveled…
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